DVD4. THE SINGING DETECTIVE When it first aired on the BBC in 1986, this genre-blending miniseries (on DVD since April) was hailed as classic, groundbreaking television. It still is. So what, Robert Downey Jr., are you doing in a pointless remake?

POP CULTURE5. BASEBALL In a post-season filled with themes Homeric (heroism, rivalries, age-old curses) and homer-ific (Sammy Sosa), our grand ol’ game is back on the national pedestal.

BOOKS6. LOST BOY LOST GIRL, BY PETER STRAUB A lost boy and a lost girl, a serial killer and a haunted house, a suicide and a kidnapping — Straub’s masterful tale of ultra-horror is all that and a bag of chips!

BOOKS7. THE SLIPPERY SLOPE, BY LEMONY SNICKET Imagine the inventive wit of the Harry Potter books, steeped in the arch humor of Roald Dahl.